A young Kory Clemens, right, is shown in a 2004 file photo. He is opening a restaurant called Katch22. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

A young Kory Clemens, right, is shown in a 2004 file photo. He is opening a restaurant called Katch22. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Photo: AMY SANCETTA / AP

New Clemens bar Katch 22 rockets into Washington corridor

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

It doesn’t take long to figure out where the number 22 came from at the new restaurant Katch 22, which opened Saturday at 700 Durham just south of Washington Avenue, in the former Convivio space.

A joint venture between Luke Mandola, Jr. (his father owns the local Ragin’ Cajun chain) and Kory Clemens (his father is, you guessed it, Roger Clemens), the name is in homage to the elder Clemens’ jersey number, several of which are displayed around the restaurant.

In keeping with the baseball theme, Katch 22 refers to entrees as “the main event,” calls kids as “Little Leaguers” and dubs desserts “extra innings,” but Clemens and Mandola insist that their concept is more than a typical sports bar, despite the dining room’s 11 televisions.

The pair first worked together at Ragin’ Cajun and Clemens even studied at Austin’s Le Cordon Bleu, so the menu includes more refined fare like Kory’s bacon-wrapped quail, homemade crab cakes, barbecue chicken flatbread pizza and a selection of steaks, in addition to more casual fare. Mandola calls the concept “sports in spirit, modern in style.”